Attempting my first hop garden this spring. I planted 2 rhyzomes, nugget and cascade. Anyone have tips on good fertilizers to use? I live in Baltimore if that makes a difference. Any advice will help since I am a beginner.

Slow release general purpose fertilizer is about the best you can do if you want something easy and effortless. Hops will only uptake nitrogen starting about now through the end of June. After that, it's predominantly potassium (which in my case is abundant in local soils, so really my only nutritional requirement is nitrogen for about a 1-2 month stretch).

Beware of using Miracle Gro as a primary source of nutrients for your plants. Hops live a long time and are better off being treated like trees than vegetables.

Miracle Gro, like many chemical fertilizers, feed the plants, but starve the soil. It is an acidic solution filled with salts. This isn't so bad for house plants and annuals, but not perennials. Using compost and slow release fertilizer will result in healthier plants in the long run.

Beware of using Miracle Gro as a primary source of nutrients for your plants. Hops live a long time and are better off being treated like trees than vegetables.

Miracle Gro, like many chemical fertilizers, feed the plants, but starve the soil. It is an acidic solution filled with salts. This isn't so bad for house plants and annuals, but not perennials. Using compost and slow release fertilizer will result in healthier plants in the long run.

I agree with beerkrump but see no problem using MG or Schultz for the first year or as a supplement as needed. For first year plants, I don't think they don't have the best root system in place and the liquid fertilizer helps get nutrients to those sparse roots.

Make sure your ph is between 6 and 6.5. If that is good just add some manue around them (if you have access) and keep them moist. They will do well. I live by Harrisburg and have had no problems. Take a look at the gallery and you will see that they thrive in our area. Hope it helps.

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I used super soil potting soil from HD but quickly found out it is not that great. I am now using Greenfields by Roots Organics it has every thing in it that your hops needs. I was getting stress and nutrient deficiency's in my old soil and my nieghbor said it needed calcium and magnesium, he loaned me what i needed and he also gave me some Greenfields. i transplanted and fertilized with what he gave me and the hops really took off. I planted one rhizome directly into the ground in March and it grew normally, but when it got to about 3 feet it stopped so i fertilized with Azos by extreme gardening about a month and a half go by and still zero growth. I decided to transplant to the front yard where the dirt is better. I dug up the rhizome with great difficulty the roots were everywhere i was dumbfounded the rhizome itself grew about 4 inches and the roots looked like madusa's head. really big and thick.Complements of the Azos+mykos fertilizer. here is some of the fertilizers i am using

Extreme Gardening: Azos and Mykos
Roots Organics: Greenfields Potting soil.
Each bag of the potting soil is about 1.5 cubic feet for a price of 15-20 dollars. Seems kinda expensive but you really don't have to go buy extra fertilizers that could quickly drive the price higher if you were using regular potting soil from HD.

The Cal-Mag i only used when the plant showed those two immunodeficiency/nutrient (my plant had AIDS)
Oh yea i am also growing Nugget and Cascade and Mt Hood.
Hope this helps ya!